SLAS E-Newsletter

The eNewsletter is compiled and sent out to you by Christy Palmer. If you have an up-coming event or items that you would like included in the next eNewsletter, then please send the details to: christy_palmer@mac.com

PLEASE NOTE: not all 'Call for Papers', are listed in the section 'Call for Papers'. Many are within the conference and seminar notices in the 'Conference and Seminars' section of the eNewsletter. All deadlines have been highlighted or emboldened in red.

The University of Nottingham’s International Office is pleased to announce the launch of the 2014 Visiting Fellowship Scheme, which will allow 30 early career researchers from outside the European Union (EU) the opportunity to complete a three month period of research in Nottingham.

The aims of the Scheme are:

Promote research collaboration between leading groups in Nottingham and partner countries through projects undertaken initially at Nottingham

Support capacity development with universities in the partner countries

Enable Visiting Fellows to obtain insight into the organisation and conduct of research, training and administration at Nottingham

Help support developing partnerships and identify possible new partnerships in the partner countries

Who is eligible to apply?

In 2014 the scheme will be open to a total of 30 early career University lecturers or post-doctoral researchers currently working at recognised universities (as defined by The University of Nottingham) in countries outside of the European Union (EU).

For the purposes of this scheme, "early career" shall mean five years or less experience of working in academia post completion of PhD.

The scheme is not open to students or faculty with more than five years' experience.

When will the fellowships take place?

The selected fellows will have the opportunity to spend three months at The University of Nottingham carrying out identified research projects from Tuesday 22 April - Friday 18 July 2014.

It is a requirement of participation in the scheme that fellows commit to spending the full three months in Nottingham.

The dates of the fellowship period are fixed. Applicants who wish to arrive late or depart early will not be accepted.

Fellows will typically be expected to work from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday, unless otherwise notified by their supervisor or agreed in advance.

Monday 5 May and Monday 26 May 2014 will be public holidays in England and the University will be closed.

How do I apply for a fellowship and what is the deadline for applications?

The deadline for applications is 5pm UK time on Friday 29 November 2013.

In the interests of fairness to all applicants, no late applications will be accepted.

The University would prefer applications to be received by email. If you are unable to complete an application in this way and would like a hard copy of the application form, please email visiting-fellows@nottingham.ac.uk

Launching in spring 2014, Modern Languages Open (MLO) is a peer-reviewed platform from Liverpool University Press for the open access publication of research from across the modern languages to a global audience. It provides:

Interdisciplinarity across the modern languages and engagement with other fields from a modern languages perspective

International dissemination under the imprimatur of Liverpool University Press, one of the world’s leading publishers in the modern languages

"MLO looks set to be a bold initiative indeed: flexible and interdisciplinary yet rigorous and scholarly. It may well prove to be a trailblazing and invaluable resource for scholars and students alike."

-- Professor Paul Julian Smith FBA, Graduate Center, CUNY

"MLO is one of the most important initiatives for modern language research in the past decades. It will transform the nature of publishing, explicitly encouraging interdisciplinarity, ensuring that high-quality and original work is published in a timely way, and significantly enlarging and democratising both the creation and the readership of modern language research."

--
Professor Michael Worton, author of the HEFCE Review of Modern Foreign Languages Provision in Higher Education in England

Modern Languages Open already has articles committed from a number of internationally renowned scholars, with further details to be announced in the coming months. We are now actively seeking articles and expressions of interest in MLO, please email clare.hooper@liv.ac.uk with the subject line ‘MLO’ to register for updates or to discuss article submission.

To keep up to date with new developments for MLO, follow us on Twitter @ModLangOpen.

Travel Grants : British Council Researcher Links initiative
The British Council
Call open 15th October 2013

DEADLINE 23:59 GMT. 24 November, 2013

International research collaboration is essential for the global knowledge economy, and it has been shown that internationally mobile researchers tend to be more productive. Furthermore, a shared research interest can help to build trust and relationships between people from very different backgrounds and cultures.

In response to this, and taking advantage of its position as an intercultural relations organisation with global expertise in higher education, the British Council is launching the British Council Researcher Links initiative, in partnership with various research and higher education organisations from around the world.

Researcher links consists of workshops and travel grants, both with a focus on early career researchers.

Researchers that reside in the UK can apply for funding to spend up to 3 months at a university or research institution in one of the nineteen partner countries, and those residing in one of the partner countries (see below) can apply for funding to come to the UK. Different countries have different priority areas and these can be found in the guidelines. If no priority areas are specified, all research areas are covered.

The countries involved at this stage are; Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Morocco, Egypt, Qatar, South Africa, Nigeria, Russia (Humanities and Social Sciences only), Turkey, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Thailand, Indonesia, South Korea, Vietnam and Bangladesh. For this call placements involving the United States are also eligible, in specific areas which focus on using the humanities and social sciences in an interdisciplinary environment.

The guidelines are available at the bottom here [PDF], and the application form can be accessed through this website.

FAQs for the Travel Grants are viewable here. Please note that the FAQs do not substitute information written on the guidelines, and all applicants are strongly advised to read the guidelines document before submitting an application.

UO releases book and documentary on human rights in Guatemala

EUGENE, Ore. (Oct. 11, 2013) ­ The English translation of a Spanish-language report on an archive documenting human rights abuses in Guatemala and a new documentary film on the same subject will help raise awareness of human rights around the world.

The translation and film are the result of a collaboration between academic units at the University of Oregon and Guatemala’s Archivo Histórico de la Policía Nacional (AHPN). With funding support from the Network Startup Resource Center (NSRC), and other campus units, two UO faculty members, Carlos Aguirre and Gabriela Martínez, headed up the projects for the UO.

In 2005, a massive amount of documentation belonging to the former Guatemalan National Police was discovered. The archive contained information on systematic human rights violations committed during the country’s civil war from 1960 to 1996.

The AHPN has since issued a report, “From Silence to Memory: Revelations of the National Police Historical Archive.” AHPN’s work is attracting worldwide attention from archivists, librarians, scholars, activists and human rights organizations.

Aguirre, UO professor of history, wrote the foreword to and edited the English version of the report. The UO Libraries has made the English version available.

In connection, Martínez has made a documentary on the archive, “Keep Your Eyes on Guatemala” (RT 54 min.). The film features interviews with victims, relatives, human rights activists, lawyers, archivists and forensic anthropologists to shed light on the tragic history of Guatemala and hope for the future. A trailer is available now; and the full length film will be available to educators, students, human rights advocates, archivists, and the general public free of charge beginning Oct. 24.

Andrew Kirkpatrick, videographer and producer from the UO Libraries' Center for Media and Educational Technologies, assisted Martínez with the videography during a second filming trip Martínez took to Guatemala. In addition, Kirkpatrick assisted with the post-production phase of the documentary.

To mark the launch of these two resources, a symposium entitled “From Silence to Memory: Archives and Human Rights in Guatemala and Beyond” will take place Oct. 24, on campus. Scholars and archivists will discuss the importance of archives and the work by the AHPN, and highlight the contributions of Aguirre’s book and Martínez’s documentary. A screening of “Keep Your Eyes on Guatemala” is scheduled at 6 p.m. in 221 Allen Hall.

ACLAIIR blog

New post on the ACLAIIR blog from Anna Svensson, current president of REDIAL. Anna writes about REDIAL's latest annual meeting, which was held in conjunction with the CEISAL conference in Oporto, as well as REDIAL's work in building European information networks and resources for Latin Americanists.

Latin American Literary Studies Association, open to all scholars and students of Latin American literature (including pre-Columbian literature) in the UK and worldwide, aims to encourage exploration of Latin American literary heritage and to promote the study of the works of Latin American writers to the academic community and wider audiences.

The Association’s areas of interest include:

Analyses of literary works by Latin American writers from the colonial times to present day;

Studies of indigenous literature of Latin America from pre-Columbian times to present day;

Studies of Latin American literature in a variety of contexts, such as political thought, social condition, scientific discovery, and others.

For directions to the campus, please visit http://www.derby.ac.uk/about/maps/ and click on 'Finding the Derby Campus' link. There is also a link from the 'Map and Directions' page to the information on accommodation in Derby city centre.

There is a bus service (Unibus 6) from Derby train station to the University. The service departs from and arrives at the main entrance to the station. Please visit http://www.derby.ac.uk/travelandtransport/derby/buses/unibus-service-6 for the timetable. During term time, Unibus 6 runs from the Derby train station every 10 minutes from 7:30 a.m. The last bus to leave Kedleston Road campus for the train station is 19:15. The journey will take approximately 20 minutes.

Dr. Gustavo Gallón is Director and founder of the Colombian Commission of Jurists, the most important and internationally prominent human rights organisation in Colombia. He has a Doctorate in Political Sociology from the School of High Studies in Social Sciences in Paris. He is a litigating attorney who has represented victims of human rights violations before national and international courts, including within the United Nations System and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Dr. Gallón has assumed a series of key roles within the UN, including his present position as the UN Human Rights Council’s Independent Expert on the Human Rights Situation in Haiti and formerly as the UN Human Rights Commission’s Special Representative for Equatorial Guinea. He is Chairman of the Board of the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL), a member of the Board of the International Service for Human Rights and Honorary Member of the International Commission of Jurists. Dr. Gallón is Professor of Law at the National University of Colombia and has published a series of books on human rights in theory and practice. He has been Visiting Fellow at the Kellogg Institute, University of Notre Dame and is a columnist at El Espectador newspaper in Bogotá.

Chile on Film. A One-day Symposium
Centre of Latin American Studies, University of Cambridge
23 November, 2013

Stifled or exiled for the duration of the Pinochet dictatorship, the cinema of Chile has recently burst onto the international stage. Forty years on from the coup, time is ripe to reconsider the challenges and innovations of this burgeoning national cinema.

Women as Wives and Workers: Marking Fifty Years of The Feminine Mystique
Royal Holloway, University of London
30 November, 2013

Sixth Annual conference of the Society for the History of Women in the Americas (SHAW)
(Co-organised with the Bedford Centre for the History of Women at Royal Holloway University of London)

2013 marks the fiftieth anniversary of The Feminine Mystique’s publication. From the outset, Betty Friedan’s text had an enormous influence on academic and popular audiences, selling millions and shaping feminist discourse about the housewife throughout the Western world. Yet at the same time, full-time housewifery was becoming both a less common experience and a cultural battlefield. Since the 1950s, levels of employment amongst married women (notably white women) have risen enormously. Women have increasingly been confronted with the ‘superwoman’ paradox, which Friedan herself encapsulated: writing about ‘the zombie housewife’ and ‘the problem that has no name’ whilst being a working wife and mother. Many other women likewise negotiated domesticity and paid work, but their experiences were by no means uniform and were shaped by various other factors including race, age, sexuality and socio-economic status.

This conference aims to draw these themes together by offering an opportunity to explore The Feminine Mystique alongside discussions of women and employment. Areas of consideration may include but are not limited to:

Women’s paid employment

The Feminine Mystique, its impact and critiques, for example with regards to race

The international impact of The Feminine Mystique

Domesticity and the figure of the housewife: experiences, rights, cultural portrayals Discourses of motherhood and fatherhood

Ana Mohaded (Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina)
‘The Power of the Song: Forbidden Singing in an Argentine Prison’ (film excerpt by Michael Chanan, University of Roehampton) plus ‘Cinema Sundays in a Maximum Security Prison in Córdoba, Argentina’

In collaboration with the University of Lancaster and the University of Liverpool

Dependency theory is associated with debates of the 1960s and 1970s and was often criticised for its mechanical and simplistic models of the structural relations between the global North and South. The political and economic clout of countries such as Brazil defy simple definitions of dependency, yet the issues of inequality and political, cultural and economic flows that dependency theory raised are still very topical, albeit more complex now than ever.
The aim is to revisit the question of Latin American “dependency”, in the light of the last twenty years of social change, encompassing:

intensified neoliberal reforms

the emerging global economic status of Brazil (and Mexico)

the region's prominence in what UNDP describes as the Rise of the South and growing South-South relations

multiculturalist legislation

increased transnational migration

the rise of “pink tide”

Latin America’s leading role in truth and reconciliation processes

the importance of climate change politics

the consolidation of “Latin” as a cultural brand.

We will address dependency not only as a set of political and economic processes, but also as a cultural phenomenon, revisiting cultural critiques that debated “cultural cannibalism”.

The fiery passion of traditional Argentinean tango gets a contemporary twist in this brand new production, showing this week at Sadler's Wells.

In the UK premiere of this groundbreaking tango production, world-renowned contemporary choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui collaborates with an incredibly talented cast of Argentinean dancers and musicians to create a live show that brings his own unique style to the passionate art form.

Cherkaoui is renowned for his curious nature and spectacular collaborations, such as Dunas, created with flamenco star María Pagés. m¡longa, his contemporary take on tango, pays homage to the wonderfully mysterious world of the Argentine dance halls and the tempestuous relationships between the dancers themselves.

"Cherkaoui frees the tango: with m¡longa [he] passionately reinvents the dance from the streets of Buenos Aires"
LE FIGARO

Alive to the power of performance, contemporary indigenous artists merge the familiar with the unexpected, the traditional with the experimental, creating new forms and objects along the way. They provoke dialogues about resources, social justice and stereotypes, and show the triumphs and failures of our times.

EcoCentrix: Indigenous Arts, Sustainable Acts brings to London the work of more than 40 artists from the Americas, Australia, the Pacific and South Africa. Uniquely comprised of both live performance and the traces it leaves behind in images, digital media, sounds, texts and crafted objects, this interactive exhibition offers fresh ways of grasping what sustainable can mean.

See, touch and hear unique installations and performances and join a new conversation on indigenous cultures. Read Quechua filmmaker Irma Poma Canchumani’s finely etched story-gourds, listen to the sounds of Peter Morin’s cultural graffiti in London and watch fragments of Guna stories animated in miniature in a 3D digital diorama. Sense a movement in the costume of an Aboriginal stilt dancer, or the uncanny stillness of live art installation. Imagine a puppet or an ear of maize as a character, a story, a building block for the future. Think about sustainability as a way of making art.

EcoCentrix also features performances, talks and workshops by indigenous performance makers. Check this website regularly for updates or follow us on Facebook and Twitter to get news from the project team, discover the artists and see previews of their work.

EcoCentrix is presented by the Indigeneity in the Contemporary World [http://www.indigeneity.net/] project at Royal Holloway, University of London.

In Colombia’s war-torn indigenous villages, three brave women use non-violent resistance to ensure their peoples’ survival. Battles between guerrillas, paramilitary forces and the army particularly endanger Colombia’s one hundred and two aboriginal groups, dozens of which are even on the brink of extinction because of the violence.
view article

President Santos inaugurates an international mega-project with champagne – while, just metres away, children who have been displaced by it die. General Reyes boasts that a guerrilla leader has been executed little knowing that, a few hours later, he will be forced to admit that it was the leader of an indigenous community who was put to death. A judge investigating members of the military for the rape and murder of children, dies mysteriously. Workers at a banana plantation have to risk their lives to assert their human rights. This brave and hard-hitting documentary attempts to challenge the impunity of these outrages against the people of Colombia.

An ambitious exhibition of previously unseen original texts, manuscripts and artefacts which document the history of the Slave Trade and the Abolition Movement. The exhibition will include items such as pictures of the Jamaica Mission of Reverend William Knibb (1803 - 1845); abolitionist poetry; slave ship images; and items relating to the slave rebellion of 1832. Visitors will also be encouraged to contemplate modern issues of slavery and human rights.

A day of debate and discussion will (re)launch the Institute under its new name but will also emphasise its continuing mission to promote and facilitate research in Modern Languages in the UK.

Despite or because of current challenges facing the sector, IMLR is determined to emphasise the pivotal role of Modern Languages in Humanities research. This is due to the obvious multilingualism, internationalism and interdisciplinarity of its work, but also to the fact that its research agendas, along with the professional identities it creates, are marked and shaped by fundamental questions concerning: cultural communication and difference; the local, national and global; the relationships between history, place, and cultural and textual production. We have chosen the topic for today’s discussion in light of the pressing issues that have emerged in recent years concerning our object(s) of study and their new polycentrisms, but also because of the perceived need for much more dialogue between our language areas and the comparative agendas this can generate.

The event, including lunch, refreshments and reception, is free, but advanced registration is essential by close of play on Thursday 28 November. To do this, please contact Dr Christopher Barenberg: christopher.barenberg@sas.ac.uk; tel.: 020 7862 8738.

We wish to thank the School of Advanced Study for its generous support of this event.

Author and journalist Arnold August will talk about his book Cuba and its Neighbours - Democracy in Motion (Zed Books, 2013). In this book, Arnold August explores Cuba’s unique form of democracy, presenting a detailed analysis of the country’s electoral process and the state’s functioning between elections. Comparing the Cuban system with practices in the US, Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador, he describes Cuba as a laboratory where the process of democratization is continually in motion, and argues for better understanding, avoiding either blanket condemnation or idealistic political illusions.

Arnold August has an MA in political science from McGill University. He is an author, journalist and lecturer living in Montreal. He is the author of Democracy in Cuba and the 1997–98 Elections (Editorial José Martí), and a chapter on “Socialism and Elections” for the volume Cuban Socialism in a New Century: Adversity, Survival and Renewal (University Press of Florida).

Our expert panel will discuss the social and economic reforms that have been introduced by Cuba's president Raul Castro. How effective have these reforms been, what obstacles have they faced, and to what extent will they enable Cuba to overcome their social and economic problems?

The politics of it all, the dual economy, and the role of foreign investment and the opportunity it presents for British business will all be analysed by our speakers. The issue of the country's dual currency will also be closely looked at - why it has to be changed and what could replace it. Copies of Latin American Newsletter's 'white paper' on currency reform options as well as the Caribbean Council's Cuba Briefing publication will be available at the event.

Our panel will include, Dr Emily Morris, Research Associate and Lecturer in Economic Development of Latin America and the Caribbean at UCL; Professor Antoni Kapcia, Professor of Latin American History at the University of Nottingham; and David Jessop, Managing Director of the Caribbean Council and the Director of Britain’s Cuba Initiative.

This event is in association with the Institute for Latin American Studies. This event is free for corporate and individual members.

George Morris Seers, Director for International Business Development at Arko Advice, will be giving a presentation at Canning House on 'Navigating Brazil' for businesses and companies looking to establish or maximise their activity in the country.

Arko Advice is a consultancy firm with three decades of experience in Brazil with expertise ranging from political conjuncture, public policy and legislative risk analysis to strategic communications, qualitative research and bespoke research.

Seers will explain contemporary Brazil from a Latin American viewpoint, highlighting its enormous potential but also its various complexities. Opportunities in sectors such as oil and gas, infrastructure, agribusiness and financial services will be pinpointed alongside challenges in the form of political, economic and social risk. How to enter and 'navigate' Brazil will be explained, as will how to make the most of Brazilian opportunities and any questions you may have will be answered.

Canning House Trustee and former UK Ambassador to Brazil, Peter Collecott, will be chairing the event.

Canning House is putting on an event to analyse the results of this year's Chilean Presidential election. With the Constitution barring current President Sebastián Piñera from seeking immediate reelection, there is guaranteed to be a new president. The front-runner, however, is former president Michelle Bachelet. Her closest rival appears to be the conservative party's Evelyn Matthei in what is shaping up to be an all-female presidential race.

Our expert panel will discuss the domestic and international implications of the results. Our speakers will include: Gabriel Palma, Senior Lecturer in the economic development of Latin America at the University of Cambridge; Jimena Blanco, Senior Latin America Analyst at Maplecroft; and one other speaker TBC. The event will be chaired by Rob Capurro, CEO at Canning House.

This event is in association with the Institute of Latin American Studies and the Institute of Advance Legal Studies.

This event is free for corporate members. Individual members £8 / non-members £10

Colonal John Blashford-Snell, having been invited to lead an expedition to support Peruvian conservationists and give aid to the indigenous communities, will be speaking in detail about this expedition to 'Wildest Peru' which will take place in July 2014. The aim is to provide medical and dental treatment, reading glasses for older villagers and school books for the children. At the same time biological and engineering advice will be given to the park officials and volunteers will monitor the wildlife.

Rising up to over 12,000 feet in the Peruvian Andes is a vast area of tropical cloud forest that is home to numerous endangered animals and rare flora. Amongst the creatures needing protection is the spectacled bear, which is little known outside South America and many beautiful birds. The diverse areas of life, wealth and the challenging landscape makes it one of the most important reserves in Peru.

The 3 week expedition in July 2014 is approved by the Scientific Exploration Society and will involve around 20 self funded volunteers. They will travel by vehicle and on foot and use pack horses. Doctors, dentists, nurses, biologists and engineers who speak some Spanish are being sought and also some to assist with the community aid.

The expedition also hopes to raise $40,000 to assist the Park’s development. A large part of this expedition will be the Misminay Water Project, which you can read about here [Word]. For further details please email Anne Gilby at jbs@ses-explore.org or phone 01747 854456

With the eagerly antipicated elections taking place at the end of November, Canning House has put together an expert panel to discuss the results and implications and possibilities for a new future in Honduras with a new president to serve for the next four years.

This year's front runners are Juan Orlando Hernández from the National Party, Mauricio Villeda from the Liberal Party, and Xiomara Castro de Zelaya from LIBRE. Zelaya is the former First Lady of Honduras - her husband Manuel Zelaya was ousted as president in a military coup in 2009.

Some 48 panel proposals have been accepted for the 50th Anniversary Conference of the Society for Latin American Studies, which will take place at Birkbeck, University of London, on 3 and 4 April 2014, and paper proposals are now invited. Papers should be submitted to specific panels, via the conference website.

45th Annual Meeting of the Association for Spanish and Portuguese Historical Studies
University of Modena e Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy
26-29 June 2014

DEADLINE 31 December, 2013

The program committee would like to invite people to submit 250-word abstracts of proposed twenty-minute papers on topics on Iberian and Latin American history, literature, art, and religion from the sixth to the twenty-first centuries. Planned sessions of three or four papers are welcome.

The conference will be held on the campus of the University of Modena e Reggio Emilia, home to a vibrant scholarly community in Iberian history. During the banquet, which we hope to have in the splendid Palazzo Ducale, now home to the Modena Military Academy founded by Napoleon, the keynote speech will be given by Alfonso Botti, professor of contemporary history in Modena and Director of “Spagna contemporanea.”

The deadline for abstracts is 31 December 2013. Email submissions are encouraged. Abstracts may be submitted in English, Spanish, Portuguese, or Italian. Please indicate whether or not your presentation will require audio-visual equipment when you submit your abstract. Send inquiries and abstracts to either:

Please remember that all conference participants must be members of the Association. Graduate students giving papers for the first time are entitled to a year's free membership.

ASPHS expresses its thanks to the University of Modena e Reggio Emilia, the Banca Popolare dell'Emilia Romagna, the Spanish Embassy in Italy, the city of Modena, the Istituto di Studi Storici Gaetano Salvemini, and the journal Spagna contemporanea for their support.

The ECPR's first Graduate Student Conference was held at the University of Essex in 2006. Graduate Student Conferences are held in alternate years to the General Conference, and have similarly been held in a range of European cities.

In addition to sections and panels, there are round tables, symposia, a plenary lecture and an interesting social programme. The ECPR Graduate Student Conferences represent an excellent opportunity for graduate students to come together from all over Europe to share their work and experience by presenting papers or by simply observing.

Latin American & Caribbean Politics Panel

While various regions of the world have been facing economic and political crises over the last years, the Latin American region has experienced a period of economic growth, social development and political stability. According to the ECLAC (2013) the region has seen significant changes in terms of external integration and macroeconomic regimes, which are reflected in sounder public finances, lower inflation and unemployment, as well as in progress against poverty and in income distribution.

Despite this general trend, the region exhibits great diversity and heterogeneity of realities. Political and economic ideologies sponsored among the region vary considerably and in comparison to three decades ago, as well as different supranational organizations (ALBA, UNASUR, IMF, World Bank, CELAC, and The Pacific Alliance, among others) promote distinctive political, economic and social approaches.

This Section of the Standing Group on Latin American Politics calls for papers that address these contrasts and help us explain the diverging pathways within the region. We encourage comparative analyses and case studies focusing on political institutions, social movements, political economy, public policy, and international relations. We welcome both theoretical and empirical papers.

Funding for ECPR Full members
Funding opportunities up to €250 is available towards the cost of the conference to individuals affiliated with full ECPR member institutions (subject to meeting the required criteria). The funding application process will open next year and details will be available on the website in due course in the Membership section.

The format of the conference
The academic programme covers all the main areas of political science, political theory, international relations and European studies. Each Panel will include 3 – 5 Papers to be presented and discussed. Attendees can present and discuss their work or simply observe and become involved in other elements of the programme.

Individuals may perform each conference function once within the academic programme e.g. Section Chair, Panel Chair, Discussant and Paper Giver. They may submit more than one Paper but may only present one. If more than one Paper is accepted you must find Paper Presenters for your additional Papers.

Please note that the Graduate Student Conference is only open to graduate students who are studying for a Master's degree, a PhD, or who hold junior postdoctoral positions.

Organisers: Institute of Modern Languages Research, Centre for the Study of Cultural Memory (University of London), ERC - Narratives of Terror and Disappearance (Universität Konstanz)

This conference gathers together academics and writers living and working on memory issues in Latin America, the United States and Europe. We aim to discuss the way in which literature has addressed the complicated neither-dead-nor-alive figure of the disappeared from the 1970s and 1980s to the present. The term disappeared was popularized in Latin America to account for the crimes perpetrated by the dictatorships of the last century, whereby citizens were detained, held and often murdered without trace. Not only ‘standardized’ and ‘transnationalized’ by Human Rights laws, the term was also translated worldwide to describe similar or analogous cases of uncertain death at the hands of a terror State.

The intention of this event is to identify and explore new poetics in the representation of the disappeared. Allegorical narratives, testimonies and memoirs have been predominant forms of addressing this figure in the aftermath of collective traumas. More recently, however, we are witnessing adventurous and experimental writings of the past and of the self. New generations in particular are exploring original ways of narrating this figure in accounts presented as science fictions and hard-boiled memories, fantasy tales and horror stories, autofictions and online diaries.

Some questions that drive this conference are: what are the common formal strategies, motives, and procedures in the literary representation of the disappeared by the postdictatorship/postconflict second generations? What makes this literature different, in its form and concerns, from both the literature of the so-called ‘1.5 generation’ and from the emerging literary production of the third generation? Are there essential differences between the works by children of the disappeared and works by authors who have no disappeared relatives? Is literature always a progressive discourse when it comes to narrating the collective traumas of the past? Or can it also contribute to constructing social stereotypes such as that of the ‘innocent victim’ or the ‘hero’ and stigmas such as that of the ‘traitor’?
Although the conference is centred on literary approaches to the figure of the disappeared, the interdisciplinary nature of many of these contemporary works means that we can no longer stick to formerly rigid genre borders. We thus welcome papers that cross disciplines (literature, theatre, cinema, photography, performance) and draw on non-conventional formats (including comics, social networks and blogs).

The Global Contours of Growth & Development beyond the Crisis
The Third SPERI Annual Conference
Halifax Hall, University of Sheffield
30 June to 2 July, 2014

DEADLINE 31 January 2014

The 2014 SPERI conference seeks to take discussion of the political economy of the crisis beyond its British and European contexts to focus centrally on the dynamics and patterns of the distribution of growth and development across the entire global political economy.

One view presumes that the contemporary economic and financial crisis is an appropriate lens through which to consider the global political economy and all of its constituent parts, placing emphasis on the integrated nature of global capitalism and the ‘global imbalances’ that draw all regions and countries into a measure of responsibility for the structural roots of crisis and recession. An alternative view argues that the implications of the crisis have been much more uneven and localised, mediated by differing types of political economy, growth models and development strategies. Meanwhile, the uncertainty surrounding the changing roles of the ‘rising powers’ or ‘BRICS’ economies, the continual flux and increasing ambiguity of categories such as ‘low-income’ and ‘middle-income’ countries, and signs of a weakening of the hold of established ‘orthodox’ ideologies of development all suggest that fresh thinking is needed about the nature of future growth and development in all parts of the global political economy, whether conventionally regarded as ‘developed’ or ‘developing’.

The conference will approach these debates by focusing on a range of questions:

Is this a ‘global’ economic crisis, and can we adequately understand the global distribution of growth through this lens?

What kinds of patterns and dynamics of growth are in evidence across the global economy?

How can we explain and understand the emergence of new patterns of high and low growth in diverse regions and countries?

How should we understand the relationship between growth and development across the global political economy?

What are the social foundations of growth models and the social and developmental consequences of the dynamics of growth?

What are the global political consequences of changing patterns of growth and development?

What types of growth and development have alleviated vulnerability or sustained resilience to crisis, and what types of strategies have emerged to deal with the repercussions of crisis?

What do current patterns of growth and development tell us about ‘what works where’ in relation to economic strategy and policy?

What specifically can be learnt about all or any of these questions from studies of growth and development within particular countries?

We now invite papers and proposals for other panels and round-tables that address the topics identified earlier from a wide range of theoretical perspectives and approaches. We wish also to draw on empirical insights from a wide range of regions, countries, localities and societies across the world. Papers can thus be broad and sweeping in their remit, addressing issues at a global or macro-regional level, or focused and specific, addressing particular national or local examples of the success or failure of growth and development.

Please send abstracts (of no more than a page in length) of proposed papers/panels to Sarah Boswell by emailing speri@sheffield.ac.uk by no later than Friday 31 January 2014.

The Business of Slavery
University of Nottingham
17-19 September, 2014

DEADLINE 24 March, 2014

An interdisciplinary conference co-hosted by the Centre for Economic and Business History and the Institute for the Study of Slavery, University of Nottingham, UK.

Call for Papers

Formerly enslaved persons and others forced to provide their labour have always made, and continue to make, an invaluable contribution to the economies of various societies; whether that be collectively through their labour efforts in a slave society, through the state, merchants, and others buying and selling their bodies, through contributions to households or small businesses, or through their independent efforts to sell their labour with the aim of freeing themselves.

This interdisciplinary conference will be co-hosted by the Centre for Economic and Business History and the Institute for the Study of Slavery. It aims to bring together assessments of the contributions of enslaved people to the economy of different eras and societies and from various perspectives, including the wider economy, the slave traders, the slave holders and the slaves themselves. It will compare these assessments over chronological eras and in societies around the globe. Papers are invited which discuss themes as diverse as (but which are not restricted to); slave trading (including foreign and indigenous trades, legal and illegal trades), the economies of slave societies, the economies of the slaves themselves, (including hiring out), the use of slaves by freedmen and freedwomen, serfdom, debt bondage, prostitution, forced (including child) labour, and from chronological periods as diverse as Ancient Greece and Rome, Medieval Europe, the early-modern Barbary States, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, and the modern world.

We will welcome proposals for papers based on textual and non-textual sources, and from any discipline. Proposals for single papers, complete panels and round tables are welcome (please provide a cover sheet with rationale for a panel or round table. Postgraduates are of course welcome and may display a poster if they prefer. We are hoping to get some funding for bursaries for postgraduates.

The conference will be held at National College for Teaching and Leadership, Jubilee Campus, University of Nottingham, 17-19 September 2014.

Centering Animals in Latin American History: Writing Animals into Latin American History
Edited by Martha Few & by Zeb Tortorici
Duke University Press
ISBN:
9780822353973
PB £17.99, now only £12.59 when you quote CS1113LATA when you order.

Centering Animals in Latin American History writes animals back into the history of colonial and postcolonial Latin America.The contributors work through the methodological implications of centering animals within historical narratives, seeking to include nonhuman animals as social actors in the histories of Mexico, Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Chile, Brazil, Peru, and Argentina. The essays range from discussions of canine baptisms, weddings, and funerals in Bourbon Mexico to imported monkeys used in medical experimentation in Puerto Rico. Some contributors examine the role of animals in colonization efforts. Others explore the relationship between animals, medicine and health. Finally, essays on the postcolonial period focus on the politics of hunting, the commodification of animals and animal parts, the protection of animals and the environment, and political symbolism.

Independence in Latin America: Contrasts and Comparisons (Third Edition)
Richard Graham
University of Texas Press
ISBN: 9780292745346
PB £16.99, now only £11.89 when you quote CS1113LATA when you order.

In the course of fifteen momentous years, the Spanish— and the Portuguese—American empires that had endured for three centuries came to an end in the mid-1820s. How did this come about? Not all Latin Americans desired such a change, and the independence wars were civil wars, often cruel and always violent. What social and economic groups lined up on one side or the other? Were there variations from place to place, region to region? Did men and women differ in their experience of war? How did Indians and blacks participate and how did they fare as a result? In the end, who won and who lost?

Independence in Latin America is about the reciprocal effect of war and social dislocation. It also demonstrates that the war itself led to national identity and so to the creation of new states. These governments generally acknowledged the novel principle of constitutionalism and popular sovereignty, even when sometimes carving out exceptions to such rules. The notion that society consisted of individuals and was not a body made up of castes, guilds, and other corporate orders had become commonplace by the end of these wars. So international politics and military confrontations are only part of the intriguing story recounted here.

For this third edition, Richard Graham has written a new introduction and extensively revised and updated the text. He has also added new illustrations and maps.

Speaking of Flowers: Student Movements and the Making and Remembering of 1968 in Military Brazil
Victoria Langland
Duke University Press
ISBN:
9780822353126
PB £16.99, now only £11.89 when you quote CS1113LATA when you order.

Speaking of Flowers is an innovative study of student activism during Brazil's military dictatorship (1964-85) and an examination of the very notion of student activism, which changed dramatically in response to the student protests of 1968. Looking into what made students engage in national political affairs as students, rather than through other means, Victoria Langland traces a gradual, uneven shift in how they constructed, defended, and redefined their right to political participation, from emphasizing class, race, and gender privileges to organizing around other institutional and symbolic forms of political authority. Embodying Cold War political and gendered tensions, Brazil's increasingly violent military government mounted fierce challenges to student political activity just as students were beginning to see themselves as representing an otherwise demobilized civil society. By challenging the students' political legitimacy at a pivotal moment, the dictatorship helped to ignite the student protests that exploded in 1968. In her attentive exploration of the years after 1968, Langland analyses what the demonstrations of that year meant to later generations of Brazilian students, revealing how student activists mobilized collective memories in their subsequent political struggles.

Working Women, Entrepreneurs, and the Mexican Revolution: The Coffee Culture of Cordoba, Veracruz
Heather Fowler-Salamini
University of Nebraska Press
ISBN:
9780803243712
PB £29.99, now only £20.99 when you quote CS1113LATA when you order.
UK Postage and Packing £2.95, Europe £4.50

In the 1890s, Spanish entrepreneurs spearheaded the emergence of Córdoba, Veracruz, as Mexico's largest commercial centre for coffee preparation and export to the Atlantic community. Seasonal women workers quickly became the major part of the agroindustry's labour force. As they grew in numbers and influence in the first half of the twentieth century, these women shaped the workplace culture and contested gender norms through labour union activism and strong leadership. Their fight for workers' rights was supported by the revolutionary state and negotiated within its industrial-labour institutions until they were replaced by machines in the 1960s.

Heather Fowler-Salamini's Working Women, Entrepreneurs, and the Mexican Revolution analyses the interrelationships between the region's immigrant entrepreneurs, workforce, labour movement, gender relations, and culture on the one hand, and social revolution, modernization and the Atlantic community on the other between the 1890s and the 1960s. Using extensive archival research and oral-history interviews, Fowler-Salamini illustrates the ways in which the immigrant and women's work cultures transformed Córdoba's regional coffee economy and in turn influenced the development of the nation's coffee agro-export industry and its labour force.

The Library has been successful in applying for a Collaborative Doctoral Partnership (CDP) award from the AHRC. This award covers six doctoral studentships each year for three years, from 2013-2016. Each studentship will be jointly supervised by a member of the British Library curatorial staff and an academic from a Higher Education Institution, as with the existing CDA scheme. The HEI will administer the studentship, receiving funds from the AHRC for fees and to cover the student’s maintenance. The British Library will provide additional financial support to cover travel and related costs in carrying out research of up to £1,000 a year.

Drawing on unique manuscript and rare published materials held at the British Library this project asks how and why the British role in Latin America changed from the late 18th through late 19th centuries – with a focus on Haiti, Venezuela and Colombia, and Brazil.

Though not British colonies, Britain played a significant role in these places: from attempting to crush the world’s first successful slave rebellion in revolutionary Haiti, to supporting Simon Bolivar’s movement for independence, to violently suppressing the Brazilian slave trade.

How and why did Britain attempt to shape each of these societies – by force, economically or politically? To what extent was it successful? What can this tell us more broadly about the nature of the contradictory yet interwoven processes of nation formation, the abolition of slavery, and colonialism in the 19th century?

The project would consist of original research on both well known manuscript materials such as the correspondences of Francisco Miranda and the Aberdeen Papers on Brazil, as well as lesser known material such as the Henri Christophe and Thomas Clarkson correspondences and the recently acquired English Papers. The project may also draw on other archival collections such as India Office Records regarding Indian labour in Brazil, as well as our printed collections on Latin American independence, and digital collections such as our Latin American Newspaper database.

Scholars of the Americas have moved away from the anachronism of studying the history of colonies or nations in isolation from the region as a whole. The most recent work of historians such as Rebecca Scott, Michael Zeuske, Ada Ferrer, and Leslie Bethell has paved the way for new questions regarding the history of slavery, politics and colonialism in particular. This shift in approach and methodology is also reflected in a renewed focus on the ‘South Atlantic’ and its significance in the 18th and 19th century – see for example the upcoming special issue of International Journal of Social History. This project would be part of this new dynamic research and scholarly environment, and offers a unique contribution to the field by linking the Caribbean with South America, and interrogating how slavery in the Americas was central to both anti colonial politics and imperial expansion in the 19th century.

Applying for a partnership

We would now like to invite applications from HEIs to work with us on one or more of these proposed topics, using the application form below. The deadline for receiving applications will be Friday 13 December 2013. We will then select the six proposals with the strongest HEI applications to start in the next academic year, commencing October 2014. HEI applications will be assessed according to the following criteria: development of the research theme; the proposed academic supervisor’s research interests and expertise; the ability of the proposed Department to support the student; and evidence of previous successful collaboration with non-HEI partners.

The studentships will then be further developed in collaboration with the successful academic partner in each case before being advertised to prospective students. The successful student will contribute to the final agreed research topic.

A partnership agreement will be drawn up jointly by the British Library supervisor and the academic supervisor, in line with AHRC guidance available on page 6 of the CDA Scheme Guidance [PDF]

Further detail on the CDP and CDA schemes is available from the AHRC website.

Application form and contact details

Please email this form to Arts-Humanities@bl.uk by 4pm on Friday 13 December 2013. Please send any queries to this email address.

The successful candidate will have a two-year appointment, a three-course load per year, and will also benefit from mentorship and research support.

Required Qualifications
The qualifications are Ph.D. in hand at the time of appointment (August 10, 2014), and a demonstrated interest in blending undergraduate teaching with research in Latin American Studies.

Preferred Qualifications
Additional expertise in Afro-Latin America and the Caribbean is preferred.

Special Application Instructions
Application materials, including a letter of application, CV, a syllabus for a proposed topics course in the candidate’s area of specialization, and three letters of recommendation, at least one of which must speak directly to teaching ability, should be submitted electronically to the online recruitment system http://jobs.wm.edu. Please note that the system will prompt applicants for the contact information for their references. After submission of the application, those individuals will be contacted by us via email to submit letters of recommendation.

For full consideration, application materials are due by November 11, 2013. Review of applications will begin at that time. Applications received after the review date will be considered if needed.

Background Check Statement
The College of William & Mary is committed to providing a safe campus community. W&M conducts background investigations for applicants being considered for employment. Background investigations include reference checks, a criminal history record check, and when appropriate, a financial (credit) report or driving history check.

EEO Statement
The College of William & Mary values diversity and invites applications from underrepresented groups who will enrich the research, teaching and service missions of the university. The College is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer.